Oliver Harvey, 1948–54

Abstract

When Oliver Harvey arrived as Ambassador in Paris, in January 1948, he was already very familiar with the work of the Embassy and the challenges it faced. 0ne of his special qualifications for the post was that he had served there in 1931–36, as Head of Chancery, and again, as Minister, from December 1939 until the Fall of France in June 1940.¹ In his diaries, Harvey describes the events of May 1940, vividly recounting the deteriorating political situation and criticising the ‘bad men of French politics’. Once the threat of German entry into the French capital was clear, he and other embassy staff began to burn the archives and evacuated the building.² But these postings to Paris were only part of a highly successful diplomatic career, one in which he had won the trust of successive Foreign Secretaries. Born into a privileged background in 1893, the grandson of Robert Harvey, an MP and Baronet, Oliver had entered the Foreign Office (F0) in 1919 and gained particular experience of European politics, with postings as Second Secretary in Rome, in 1922–25, and First Secretary in Athens, in 1929–31. He served twice as Principal Private Secretary to the Foreign Secretary, Anthony Eden, between 1936 and 1938, and again between 1941 and 1943, becoming a constant presence in the Conservative politician’s circle of advisers. In 1938–39, he also acted in the same position for Lord Halifax.